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Books > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > Other Protestant & Nonconformist Churches
How are spiritual power and self-transformation cultivated in
street ministries? In Addicted to Christ, Helena Hansen provides an
in-depth analysis of Pentecostal ministries in Puerto Rico that
were founded and run by self-identified "ex-addicts," ministries
that are also widespread in poor Black and Latino neighborhoods in
the U.S. mainland. Richly ethnographic, the book harmoniously melds
Hansen's dual expertise in cultural anthropology and psychiatry.
Through the stories of ministry converts, she examines key elements
of Pentecostalism: mysticism, ascetic practice, and the idea of
other-worldliness. She then reconstructs the ministries' strategies
of spiritual victory over addiction: transformation techniques to
build spiritual strength and authority through pain and discipline;
cultivation of alternative masculinities based on male converts'
reclamation of domestic space; and radical rupture from a
post-industrial "culture of disposability." By contrasting the
ministries' logic of addiction with that of biomedicine, Hansen
rethinks roads to recovery, discovering unexpected convergences
with biomedicine while revealing the allure of street corner
ministries.
I make no apology for the Bible I make no apology for the way
people shout and praise God in these meetings. I make no apology
for the loud noise of hundreds of people clapping their hands in
praise People shout, sing, and dance in the Spirit in these
meetings. I will not apologize for the way children of God who
attend our meetings talk in tongues and prophesy I have no apology
for God's Word I cannot apologize for what God declared we ought to
be receiving and enjoying today Asa A. Allen was a controversial
evangelist with a Pentecostal healing and deliverance ministry. He
was associated with the "Voice of Healing" movement founded by
Gordon Lindsay. Allen became one of the first to develop a national
television ministry. His television programs frequently included
excerpts from his "healing line" ministry.
In 1878, Elder Joseph Standing traveled into the Appalachian
mountains of North Georgia, seeking converts for the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sixteen months later, he was
dead, murdered by a group of twelve men. The church refused to bury
the missionary in Georgia soil; instead, he was laid to rest in
Salt Lake City beneath a monument that declared, "There is no law
in Georgia for the Mormons." Most accounts of this event have
linked Standing's murder to the virulent nineteenth-century
anti-Mormonism that also took the life of prophet Joseph Smith and
to an enduring southern tradition of extralegal violence. In these
writings, the stories of the men who took Standing's life are
largely ignored, and they are treated as significant only as
vigilantes who escaped justice. Historian Mary Ella Engel adopts a
different approach, arguing that the mob violence against Standing
was a local event, best understood at the local level. Her
examination of Standing's murder carefully situates it in the
disquiet created by missionaries' successes in the North Georgia
community. As Georgia converts typically abandoned the state for
Mormon colonies in the West, a disquiet situated within a wider
narrative of post-Reconstruction Mormon outmigration to colonies in
the West. In this rich context, the murder reveals the complex
social relationships that linked North Georgians-families, kin,
neighbors, and coreligionists-and illuminates how mob violence
attempted to resolve the psychological dissonance and gender
anxieties created by Mormon missionaries. In laying bare the bonds
linking Georgia converts to the mob, Engel reveals Standing's
murder as more than simply mountain lawlessness or religious
persecution. Rather, the murder responds to the challenges posed by
the separation of converts from their loved ones, especially the
separation of women and their dependents from heads of households.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints adopted the vocal
and theatrical traditions of American musical theater as important
theological tenets. As Church membership grew, leaders saw how the
genre could help define the faith and wove musical theater into
many aspects of Mormon life. Jake Johnson merges the study of
belonging in America with scholarship on voice and popular music to
explore the surprising yet profound link between two
quintessentially American institutions. Throughout the twentieth
and twenty-first centuries, Mormons gravitated toward musicals as a
common platform for transmitting political and theological ideas.
Johnson sees Mormons using musical theater as a medium for theology
of voice--a religious practice that suggests how vicariously
voicing another person can bring one closer to godliness. This
sounding, Johnson suggests, created new opportunities for living.
Voice and the musical theater tradition provided a site for Mormons
to negotiate their way into middle-class respectability. At the
same time, musical theater became a unique expressive tool of
Mormon culture.
Called "a pioneer contribution" by Church History when it was
first published in 1971 as The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the
United States, this volume has now been revised and enlarged by
Vinson Synan to account for the incredible changes that have
occurred in the church world during the last quarter of the
twentieth century.
Synan brings together the stories of the many movements usually
listed as "holiness," "pentecostal," or "charismatic," and shows
that there is an identifiable "second blessing" tradition in
Christianity that began with the Catholic and Anglican mystics,
that was crystallized in the teaching of John Wesley, and that was
further perpetuated through the holiness and Keswick movements of
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the appearance of modern
Pentecostalism. Synan then chronicles the story of the spread of
Pentecostalism around the world after the heady days of the Azusa
Street awakening, with special attention given to the beginnings of
the movement in those nations where Pentecostalism has become a
major religious force. He also examines the rise of various
mainline-church charismatic movements that have their roots in
Pentecostalism.
Because of the explosive growth of the Pentecostal movement in
the last half of the century, Pentecostals and Charismatics now
constitute the second largest family of Christians in the world
after the Roman Catholic Church. "This could well be the major
story of Christianity in the twentieth century," writes Synan.
"Pentecostalism has grown beyond a mere passing 'movement' . . .
and can now be seen as a major Christian 'tradition' alongside the
Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Reformation Protestant
traditions."
The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition will continue to be an
important handbook for shaping our understanding of this
phenomenon.
This panoramic vision was given to the author over a period of one
year. It includes an unfolding of the last battle between light and
darkness. A condensed version was printed in "The Morning Star
Journal" as "The Hordes of Hell Are Marching--" it quickly became
the most popular work we have ever printed, and has been circulated
around the world. This is the complete vision, including Parts IV
& V, which have not been previously published.
What is the true nature and mission of the church? Is its proper
Christian purpose to save souls, or to transform the social order?
This question is especially fraught when the church is one built by
an enslaved people and formed, from its beginning, at the center of
an oppressed community's fight for personhood and freedom. Such is
the central tension in the identity and mission of the black church
in the United States. For decades the black church and black
theology have held each other at arm's length. Black theology has
emphasized the role of Christian faith in addressing racism and
other forms of oppression, arguing that Jesus urged his disciples
to seek the freedom of all peoples. Meanwhile, the black church,
even when focused on social concerns, has often emphasized personal
piety rather than social protest. With the rising influence of
white evangelicalism, biblical fundamentalism, and the prosperity
gospel, the divide has become even more pronounced. In Piety or
Protest, Raphael G. Warnock, Senior Pastor of the historic Ebenezer
Baptist Church, the spiritual home of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., traces the historical significance of the rise and
development of black theology as an important conversation partner
for the black church. Calling for honest dialogue between black and
womanist theologians and black pastors, this fresh theological
treatment demands a new look at the church's essential mission. The
Reverend Dr. Raphael G. Warnock serves as Senior Pastor of the
Ebenezer Baptist Church (Atlanta, Georgia). In the Religion, Race,
and Ethnicity series
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